There’s been a concerted public-health effort over the past two decades to better prevent and treat heart disease. Fewer people are smoking, and hypertension and high cholesterol are better controlled. As the WSJ’s Ron Winslow has reported, the payoff has included a sharp drop in the heart-attack rate among older Americans.

But cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the U.S. — according to the CDC, it kills more people than cancer, lower respiratory diseases and accidents combined. And according to the new stats, prevalence of CHD varies by age, gender and ethnicity. Just 3.9% of Asians and Pacific Islanders report having CHD, compared to 11.6% of American Indians and Alaska natives. (Prevalence rates were 5.8% for whites, 6.5% for blacks and 6.1% for Hispanics.)

Geography matters, too, with 3.7% of Hawaiians reporting CHD vs. 8% of West Virginians. In general, the South has a greater prevalence of heart disease.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 16th, 2011 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Coronary Disease, Health, Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.